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let-down

 - 3 dictionary results

let⋅down

  [let-doun]
Use let-down in a Sentence
–noun
1. a decrease in volume, force, energy, etc.: a letdown in sales; a general letdown of social barriers.
2. disillusionment, discouragement, or disappointment: The job was a letdown.
3. depression; deflation: He felt a terrible letdown at the end of the play.
4. the accelerated movement of milk into the mammary glands of lactating mammals upon stimulation, as by massage or suckling.
5. Aeronautics. the descent of an aircraft from a higher to a lower altitude preparatory to making an approach and landing or to making a target run or the like.
Also, let-down.

Origin:
1760–70; n. use of v. phrase let down
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To let-down
let·down or let-down   (lět'doun')   
n.  

  1. A decrease, decline, or relaxation, as of effort or energy.

  2. A disappointment: The cancellation of the game was a real letdown.

  3. The descent made by an aircraft in order to land.

  4. A physiological response in lactating females, activated usually in response to sucking or crying by an infant, in which milk previously secreted into the alveoli of the breasts is released into the ducts that lead to the nipple.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: let–down
Pronunciation: 'let-"daun
Function: noun
: a physiological response of a lactating mammal to suckling and allied stimuli wherebyincreased intramammary pressure forces previously secreted milk from the acini and finer tubules into the main collecting ducts from where it can be drawn through the nipple
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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